Growing So Big!

Esme is 10 weeks old

She is already in 6 months clothes (mostly) because she is so long the others usually won't snap anymore! She is also sitting up with some support. She falls over after a few seconds but it is still good practice for her muscles. She is grabbing blankets, toys and nearly anything else that can get in reach. Daddy's braid fell victim for the first time this weekend and she gave it a good tug ;)

We've also gone to a new internet connection here at our house - one that includes a cellular modem. I'm learning how to get all of our pictures transferred slightly different and how to get around on Ubuntu, which is a different flavor of Linux than I'm used to. It's actually pretty cool. It does a lot of things automatically such as printers, USB storage devices etc... I hadn't expected that to be so easy on a Linux install. The cellular dial-up is quite a bit slower than the old system. That is the toughest thing of all to get used to. Putting up Ebay listings or printing package labels seems to take forever. But we can do this from anywhere that has a cell signal, so WOW - considering that it is pretty awesome.

Have a great day!

Living the Minutes and Not the Hours

I told Mark a few days ago I can't believe Esme will be two weeks old soon. I said: 'Ever since those first contractions started, I feel like I've been living the minutes and not the hours.' He agreed we both are. The actual time we record in our minds has slown down immensely, yet the days somehow keep passing by almost unnoticed.

And it's not just this beautiful baby that is making us pay attention to every little thing while the hours somehow slip away in the process... although she is the majority of it ;) We have a task list a mile long, and only so much time to do it in.

We're transferring our store over to a new computer system, which means a lot of juggling in the next week or so. I have to learn the new system before Mark travels. I'm still not too good with the car, but I did drive the truck (also a stick shift) to the store yesterday with little problem.

We're working at being independent at a time (new baby) when most people we've known were leaning on others around them for much more than ever. But, we know we have to do this, because we want something that is ours, totally, that we know we can continue doing together on our own ambitions, with less chance that it could be pulled out from under us unexpectedly.

So far, we're doing quite well, but we're feeling the crunch coming up. We're stepping up our already busy days to get ready for the move. I'm almost ready to do that, but not quite yet. I'm sleeping better at night and Esme is on a much more regular, almost predictable schedule.

Milestone: Esme's umbilical cord stump fell off last night. She was having a 'digestion fit' at the time, when her belly hurts her and she has to fuss until something settles. I told her: 'Hey little one, be good to your new belly button, you only get one!'

Super Wednesday

Today Mark is in Jackson, TN getting some inventory for our shop - some HEAVY inventory! I'm manning Ebay and trying to find somewhere in our garage to put this HEAVY inventory - somewhere where we won't have to move it for a while.

I'm also making a custom toy for Mrs. Pao! and doing assorted things on Ebay etc... We see a midwife at the clinic today since our doctor is out of town, and we're now at weekly doctor visits.


Two pink squares together? Apparently I wasn't paying enough attention!
I made this slightly-wonky bunny quilt late Saturday night, and another Green Kangaroo. We've been moving nearly nonstop since Sunday morning. Sunday and Monday were a lot of sales at our Ebay, mostly of small things - but that meant a lot of packaging and tracking to get ready to ship LOTS yesterday.

We also took the puppies (all 8 of them) to the flea market yesterday. That was an adventure in itself, but I forgot to bring the camera. We still have all 8, but did pass out a few cards. We're charging money for them because of what happened with Goliath, one of Blaze and DeeDee's brothers, last year. The guy who took him nearly starved him to death and he ended up in the McKenzie animal shelter in near-death conditions. We hope to check people out a little better this year and/or just make sure they really want a dog that is going to get 130-150 lbs quickly! We did hear good news about Goliath from a lady who recognized Blaze, she said last she heard he was adopted by a family in Kentucky and was spending most of his time taking up the whole couch and waving all four feet in the air ;) Must be a 'family trait', as we see that every day *chuckle*

Baby Update I'm continuing to gain some weight, but it has slowed down. I'm still waking up once or twice a night.

I can see that the baby has "dropped"! It's visible and definitely something that can be felt. All of her movements are SO much lower and the place I was feeling upward pressure before, right below the sternum, is about 2 inches lower now. There is also a new pressure right at/below my hipbones, but a constant presence, not a painful bouncing like before she 'turned.'

I can sit up straighter and my shoulders aren't hurting quite as quickly each day as they were for the last few weeks. I'm downing mlik like there is no tomorrow. I went to the store on Monday to get some 'post-pregnancy' comfort clothes. I hate shopping for clothes, but did manage to find some things that fit me now, should fit me then, and don't put a binding feeling about my waist.

I've had three people, in three days, tell me 'Two to three weeks? You look like you could go in two to three days!' A lady at the flea market said that giving birth was 'as close to a long painful death as you can come before you realize it is all over and you forget the pain (because you see that baby of yours)*sigh*'... disconcerting but oddly that doesn't bother me as much as the people who say 'it will all be fine' -- that bothers me more because I KNOW it is going to hurt, and honesty is better than smoothing over.

Busy here...

We have our doctor's appointment today, shipping for our Ebay store and a few other things to do in town. We've been busy most of the weekend, as well. On Saturday we had a cable break out over the driveway that holds up the fiber optic cable for our Internet. It didn't cause the Net to go down, but we had to expend quite a bit of effort to stabilize the wire again, so it wouldn't break in the next storm.

We're also going back and forth between different computer projects. It isn't as easy as it seems to keep a large Internet network up and accessible to the Web. We run over 16 web sites here, and are pretty much the only ones who know (me because Mark knows) what to do when something breaks. Often, it is a situation that will lead to other things failing later, and although no one can see the fixes being made on a weekly basis, they would quickly know if they stopped being taken care of for any long period of time. We're also working with salvaged equipment to get all of this done, and have for years - so the methods to fix broken systems often includes cannibalizing some other machine, making a work-around or trying to scrape together something new before old one gives out completely.

Not that we are busy 24/7 - we still get time to sit down and watch a movie during dinner and be together, but there is always more to get done, somewhere, the next time we get moving again.

I traded a few rabbit softies to a lady in Florida (Tessa at HowtoMakeArt blog) for a cool screenprinted shirt. I'm glad those rabbits will have a good home instead of sitting on my shelf in a cutely menacing row. I've taken on a few custom art projects, one for a friend and one for a site logo. We went to the flea market yesterday and picked up a few more things to Ebay and a small box of craft materials the lady was selling for 2.00.

Off to bustle some more, we've got our postal box ready to go out but I really need to vaccum before we go to the doctor ;)

Strange Ebay Experience...

We are listed as certified trading assistants for our area on Ebay. For the past four days we've been receiving multiple emails from some guy in North Carolina, with his full name, address and phone number -- asking us 'please please please call me I need to get in contact with you.' The emails are generated from a trading assistant contact process on Ebay, meaning he has an account and should know what Ebay is all about.

Okay, so probably not smart on our part, but we called him. He's a moron.

He asks 'Do you have any books or movies for sale - can you tell me which ones you have?'

Err no sir. (For one thing - we sell mostly equipment, no movies, and few books) This is like calling a yarn shop in England by telephone, when they have a full-functioning website, and asking for them to describe all of the fishing tackle they carry, how much it costs and how many they have over the phone.

"Trading assistants" are for helping YOU sell stuff on Ebay, that is why the email address is there. If you have something you want to sell but don't know how, or don't have Paypal etc etc - we can help you sell it. If you can get to the email address than you can get to our 'Ebay stores' and see our inventory that is for sale. We don't have secret hordes of books and movies for sale that aren't listed there. And please, please don't try to bypass Ebay or expect us to read inventory off over the phone to someone who takes two minutes to formulate a sentence. Sheesh!

Cuteness Overload

Double Snooze Time

Kelba says: That's just wrong, make it stop!

We've been busy almost since we touched foot back here after the flea market on Tuesday. We have three large stacks of vinyl LPs to catalog, categorize and post to Ebay, along with our regular activities. We're also looking into further expanding some of our technical abilities here in the office. I've been adding some rows onto the circular shawl, and of course there is lots of puppy training going on as well.

We're still deciding on a name for the pyr' - but she has shed most of her shyness and is trying to throw her 'weight' around with the pack, which has led to mostly laughter and some important puppy lessons about who you can and who you can't push around, even with fluffy cuteness and whimpers. For example, Misha, who is the kitten guardian extraordinaire - has told this puppy she is not mommy, but drill sargeant. She has taken a firm paw in telling this pup what she can and can't do. Which, considering this pup will grow to be as big as Abby was, is probably a good thing.

Btw: Jeanne asked how big our animal 'herd' is now:

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We have three very-large dogs (about 100-120 lbs each - it had been four with Abby), four medium-size dogs (about 60-90 lbs each), and one 20 lb. dog that thinks she's a cat. Now, add on this puppy and that makes nine once again. There are also two cats, a kitten and a goat. Remember, this is almost a farm-like atmosphere, out in the country. The big dogs have a fenced-in yard where they can run with the goat.

Personally, I hardly notice there are this many 'critters' until dinnertime! :)